FriendFinder Networks breach

Monday, November 28, 2016

The adult entertainment and online dating conglomerate FriendFinder Networks recently announced that the personal information of its users has been compromised, including users’ email addresses, passcodes, log-in times, IP addresses and membership statuses. Cyber experts estimate that more than 412 million user accounts have been breached.

Announced: November 14, 2016

Description of the breach: On November 14, 2016, FriendFinder Networks announced that their websites had suffered a breach which compromised the data of their users. Cyber experts believe that more than 412 million user accounts have been compromised, making this one of the largest data breaches in history. FriendFinder Networks is urging all users of their sites which include: cams.com, stripshow.com, asiafriendfinder.com, alt.com, friendfinder.com, icams.com as well as penthouse.com, a site that they no longer own, but one that was compromised as part of this breach, to change their FriendFinder Networks password as well as any other account passwords that has been reused. No credit card information is believed to have been compromised.

FriendFinder Networks is advising all users to be cautious of any phishing scams in the wake of this breach. Phishing scams typically appear to be from a legitimate source but are designed to lure individuals into clicking dangerous links or to convince consumers to share private information with a fraudster. FriendFinder Networks is urging consumers to be suspicious of any emails asking them to act quickly or to follow links provided in emails where either the body of the email or the email address itself contains spelling errors, as these are red flags for a phishing attack.